With a debt of 1,350 million. With a skyrocketing salary mass. In full policy of cuts to try to comply before LaLiga with the viability plan for the next two seasons and with a guarantee of six million that the board will have to pay out of pocket to reach everything. Meanwhile, in the offices of the sports city they strive to add powerful signings that fit within this war economy. Yes indeed. They do it with the trophy room overflowing.
With the victory of the Barcelona futsal team at the Jaén court at the Sant Joan festival, Barça completed a historic and unprecedented league title. Six of Six. His six professional teams lifted the most precious Spanish title. In the year of the entity’s centenary they were four out of four because then neither women’s football nor futsal had a professional structure. Barça’s multi-sports culture, the one that is questioned on occasions both inside and outside the club when economic curves come, more in the spotlight than ever. Nobody can boast like Barcelona fans of having such a diverse and global club. The challenge will be to maintain competitiveness with coffers so empty and with the Espai Barça under construction. This is the story of the six leagues.
In order of relevance, logically, it is time to talk first about men’s soccer. After four years of league drought, Xavi Hernández’s team managed to win the 27th Men’s League in the club’s history. A completely necessary success to lay the foundations of the new project led by the technician from Terrassa. A culé to the core that advocates a compact team that can boast of a relentless defense and the talent of a goalkeeper like Ter Stegen who got his first Zamora. The League cannot be explained without the 23 goals scored by Robert Lewandowski, Pichichi in his first year as a Barça player. After an irregular start, the defeat at the Bernabéu in October changed everything. Xavi took out his blackboard. He first discarded the two pure wingers, then brought together the four midfielders. And it worked: 13 games without losing, with 12 victories and alirón four days in advance in Cornellà against Espanyol. De Jong, Araújo, Pedri, Gavi or Ansu Fati did not know what it was to be a champion with Barça. For Busquets, Alba and partly also for Piqué, who left in January, it was the last.
His female colleagues prevailed from start to finish. They never lowered the bar in an F League that is beginning to become more competitive and in which they had to do without Alexia Putellas, double Ballon d’Or, for practically the entire course. But they have the character of Patri Guijarro, Mapi León or Aitana Bonmatí who they have led the team with a strong exercise of personality and strength. With the League already in their pocket, Jonatan Giráldez’s men only lost one game. It was on the last matchday against Madrid CFF, a defeat that came 719 days and 64 games later in this competition. Their record in the 22-23 League, the fourth win in a row and the eighth in total, was once again overwhelming: 28 wins, one draw and one loss in 30 games, 118 goals scored and 10 conceded. The Champions League and the Spanish Super Cup joined the list of winners of the only profitable section of the club that only missed the Queen’s Cup and due to improper alignment of Geyse Ferreira.
As for basketball, the outlook did not look good for the section. Fiasco in the Cup against Unicaja and collapse against Madrid in the Euroleague, with a very poor Mirotic. But in the Endesa League playoffs and, above all, in the final against the Whites, it was possible to see the most united, supportive and concentrated Barça of the entire season. Mirotic’s announcement that the club had decided to do without his services by not wanting to continue paying him his high fees was more of a spur than a slab at the moment of truth. 3-0 resounding and twentieth basketball league for the entity. Now it’s time to adjust the belt, agree to the liquidation of Mirotic, decide what happens with Higgins and sign wisely.
Instead, there was never any doubt about the handball league title. The Asobal territory is an absolute monarchy of Barça. The handball section was the first to be proclaimed league champion. They did it seven days from the end by defeating At.Valladolid. It treats of the thirteenth consecutive league for the barcelonistas, the thirtieth in total. About thirty in thirty games were his tournament victories. This campaign there was no honey in the Champions League but in Spain the tone continued to be perfect. Fàbregas will leave, the club wants to do without Cindric for salary reasons and the great unknown is the future of Pérez de Vargas.
If the hegemony in handball is total in roller hockey, Barça has risen. After seeing how the Liceo won the championship the previous season, in which Barcelona finished third, it was time to recover the scepter and the Barcelona fans did it by sweeping the Galicians in the final with a resounding 3-0. Ninth league of the last ten for the blaugrana. A joy to forget the continental disappointment, where Barça has not prevailed since 2018.
There are no two without three. The futsal team knows this well, which, like between 2011 and 2013, again chained three consecutive leagues. Jesús Velasco’s team won Jaén Paraíso Interior and added the seventh domestic title. A League that comes with the prize of granting a ticket to the next Champions League and that serves to fire references such as the veteran Carlos Ortiz and Marcenio.
